What is recorded here

Four stone chambers and three narrow creepways still lie hidden beneath the Ballyledder rath, stretching fifty-seven feet toward the east. Cooke measured lintels above drystone walls and openings that people could crawl through, yet both entrances have vanished from the surface. The passage may have stored grain, hidden people during storms, or simply mapped the dark for whoever built it. Whatever its purpose, the rath kept the chambers alive long after the names of their makers faded.

Cooke described a stone-built Man-made underground passage (KE065-085001-) in this rath, accessible through an opening near its centre (ibid. 6). In the late 1970s another opening to a Man-made underground passage was noted near the entrance gap (local information). Neither of the openings are now apparent. Cooke described a linear arrangement of four chambers, linked by narrow creepways, which extended 57 feet (17.4m) from the centre of the site towards ENE. The corbelled side-walls of each chamber were of drystone construction, and they supported roofing lintels. The chambers varied from 1.8m to 4.3m long and were on average 1.2m wide and 1.7m high. The three creepways averaged .92m long, .38m wide and .49m high. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 461. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 28 July 2013

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.